CONCORD, Calif., January 24, 2006-A recent survey of IT decision-makers conducted by Exadel, Inc. at the 2005 Gartner Open Source Summit showed that organizations continue to actively investigate open source software alternatives for the production of business applications, although lack of commercial support remains a major obstacle.

This trend toward open source adoption may be a result of the financial strain that organizations continue to place on their IT departments.  In fact, the majority (66%) of survey respondents reported that the pressure on IT departments to find alternatives for cost savings and productivity gains is at an all time high.  The problem with this approach is a widespread lack of organizational sophistication with open source software.  For example, more than half (55%) of survey respondents reported that their organizations currently have limited internal knowledge of open source.  Additionally, 44 percent of IT managers ranked their organization's ability to use open source to build business software on the lower half of a five point scale.

According to a February 23, 2005 Gartner report entitled "Positions 2005: Open-Source Solutions Will Restructure the Software Industry," "by 2010, at least 15 percent of Global 2000 companies will be involved in open-source development or will have considered a "build-and-open-source" approach as an additional option in their application development strategies (0.6 probability)."

The survey also found:

• Adopting additional productivity tools (50%) and leveraging the use of components (43%) ranked highest with survey respondents when asked what would help their organization achieve cost savings and productivity gains for development projects.
• 43 percent of respondents cited lack of available commercial support as the top risk or vulnerability to adopting open source technology;
• 40 percent of respondents claimed that their organization's lack of knowledge about open source as the top vulnerability to adoption;
• 44 percent of respondents use the Eclipse development framework.

"It should come as no surprise that the pressures of cost reduction are motivating organizations to incorporate open source technology into their IT architectures," said Fima Katz, CEO of Exadel.  "The real problem is widespread unfamiliarity and lack of expertise with open source across all levels of the organization.  Offering professional guidance, on-site, interactive education and training, and critical support and deep expertise both during project development and on an ongoing basis, Exadel is ideally positioned to help companies make the transition to open source."

Exadel, Inc. is a leading provider of software, services, and support that enable companies to create mission-critical business applications based on open source and Java technologies.  Offering unmatched expertise at building reliable business solutions, Exadel solves real business problems for hundreds of domestic and international clients, including ABN AMRO Bank (www.mortgage.com), AT&T, Bank of America, eBay, Echopass, GE, Honeywell, and Time Warner.  Exadel's fast, scalable and cost-effective solutions reduce application lifecycle costs and development time, eliminating vendor lock-in and improving overall client productivity.

Exadel's product line includes Exadel Studio Pro, the most advanced Web application development toolset designed for open source, which supports JSF, Struts, Hibernate, Spring and many other platforms. Exadel services include custom online and onsite training, Exadel Development Boost and Exadel Professional Services. Founded in 1998, Exadel is privately owned and located in the San Francisco Bay Area with development offices located in Chicago, Minsk and Moscow.  For more information, go to www.exadel.com or call 1.888.4EXADEL.